DGAP-News: Haier Smart Home publishes financial Figures for 2021: Further Focus on Product Innovation supported by Investment in R&D. Revenue and Profit hit Record High

Haier Smart Home publishes financial Figures for 2021: Further Focus on Product Innovation supported by Investment in R&D. Revenue and Profit hit Record High

- Revenue up 15.8% to RMB227.556 billion

- Profit increased 47.1% year-on-year

- Outstanding Performance in High-end and Overseas Businesses

Qingdao / Shanghai / Hong Kong / Frankfurt, 30 March 2022 - Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. ("Haier Smart Home" or "the Company", stock code: 690D.DE, 600690.SH, 6690.HK), today published its financial report for 2021.

Excluding the disposal of COSMOPlat, Haier Smart Home generated a significant revenue growth of 15.8% to RMB227.556 billion in fiscal year 2021. The net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company increased to RMB13.067 billion. This reflects a growth of 47.1% compared to fiscal year 2020. Cash flow from operating activities increased by 31.3% to RMB23.130 billion. Profitability of the overseas business segment achieved a record high, with Casarte's revenue breaking RMB12.9 billion, up 40% year-on-year.

The fiscal year 2021 was characterized by continuous increase of raw material prices on the supply side and sluggish consumption on the demand side, as well as the recurring coronavirus pandemic, rising costs of ocean freight and geopolitical uncertainty. Nevertheless, revenue and profit of Haier Smart Home reached a record high, beating market expectations. These positive results are mainly attributable to the ongoing implementation of Company's smart home strategies worldwide.

Ongoing digital transformation resulted into cost reduction and improved operating efficiency

Haier Smart Home continued to deepen its digital transformation also in fiscal year 2021. The Company increased its effort to expand its online digital operation system in order to promote efficient interconnection between departments and reduce operating costs.

The continuous investment in digital transformation has enabled further improvement of Haier Smart Home in profitability, leading to an increase of the customer acquisition rate per sale staff member by 38% year-on-year. Furthermore, excluding the disposal of COSMOPlat, the Company's expense ratio was reduced by 1.6 pct compared to the previous year.

Casarte's revenue broke through RMB12.9 billion with sustainable growth of air conditioning and kitchen appliances businesses

In 2021, the market for high-end and smart home scenario solutions continued its expansion. In this context, Haier's premium brand Casarte kept growing by reporting revenue of RMB12.9 billion (up 40% compared to 2020). In five consecutive years, Casarte registered a compound growth rate of 36%, achieving high growth and a high market share.

Revenue from the air conditioning business of Haier Smart Home grew by 26.2% in 2021, with Casarte high-end household air conditioners reaching revenue growth of 56.7%.

The kitchen appliance business of Haier Smart Home also achieved sustained growth by laying out high-end products and developing to scenario ecosystem. The revenue from the kitchen appliance business increased by 26.1% year-on-year in 2021 with an increase of the Casarte retail sales of 95.1%.

Furthermore, Haier Smart Home developed new product features under emerging categories such as dryers and dishwashers that achieved a three-digit growth in revenue and profit.

Overseas operating profit margin improved by 1.2 pct year-on-year

In the overseas market, in face of the challenges such as the continuous rise in raw material prices and international logistics costs, Haier Smart Home relied on the advantages of having local teams in the R&D, Manufacturing and Sales divisions to reduce operating costs.

During the reporting period, the Company's revenue and operating profit from overseas business amounted to RMB113.73 billion and RMB5.93 billion, representing respectively a year-on-year increase of 13% and 48.1%.

In each major regional market worldwide, the revenue of Haier Smart Home maintained rapid growth.

In 2021, Haier Smart Home put into operation the India Industrial Park, the Europe dryer factory, and the Europe Industry 4.0 refrigerator interconnection factory. These three smart factories make use of Artificial Intelligence, big data and IoT technology for optimizing their production and workflow processes. Their annual capacity is over 5.25 million units and will be further increased in 2022. To capture market potential timely, two additional factories will be put into operation in 2022: the Europe freezing and cooling interconnection factory and the Europe dishwasher factory.

Three-Winged Bird brand made significant progress during the period

Three-Winged Bird is the exclusive scenario brand of Haier Smart Home. Since its launch in 2020, Three-Winged Bird has been focusing on the user experience and needs by providing customers with one-stop customized smart home services for home appliances, home furnishing, home decoration and home life.

By the end of 2021, the number of active users of the Three-Winged Bird App was 6.75 million. At the same time, Three-Winged Bird has built a total of 1,317 scenario shops.

Continuous investment to support future growth

The strong development of the scenario brand relied on the continuous investment in technology research and development. In 2021, Haier Smart Home continued to increase its investment in 5G, AI, IoT and other technologies, with a year-on-year increase of 22.0% in R&D investment. In the "2021 Global Smart Home Invention Patent Ranking", Haier Smart Home topped the list with 4,535 invention patents, ranking first in the world for six consecutive times.

Haier Smart Home has been actively integrating ESG-issues in its corporate strategy and practicing sustainability to respond to the Chinese national strategy of peaking carbon emission by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 for a greener and sustainable future. For example, Haier Smart Home has launched a household appliance recycling project and invested in the construction of Haier's household appliance recycling plants. In May 2021, the Company opened its first smart recycling factory in China. It is the first of its kind to extract recyclable components in discarded electronic appliances. The first phase of the project is expected to be put into operation by July 2022, which will allow processing of 2 million used home appliances, with modification and granulation capacity of 30,000 tons per year. Further information on the sustainability strategy and actions of the Company can be found in the ESG-report 2021 at https://smart-home.haier.com/en/.

Haier Smart Home showed a strong growth momentum also in fiscal year 2021. The Company will continue to implement its global smart home strategies to remain on its path of sustainable growth.

The complete 2021 Annual Report of Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. has been published on the Company's Website at https://smart-home.haier.com/en/.

IR Contact:
Haier Smart Home Hong Kong
T: +852 2169 0000
Email: [email protected]

Press Contact:
CROSS ALLIANCE communication GmbH
Sven Pauly
Sara Pinto
[email protected]
T: +49 (0) 89 1250903 35

About Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd.:
Haier is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household appliances with a focus on smart home solutions and customized production. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. develops, produces and distributes a wide range of household appliances. These include refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, kitchen appliances as well as small household appliances and an extensive range of intelligent household appliances. The Company distributes its products through leading household brands such as Haier, Casarte, Leader, Candy, GE Appliances, AQUA and Fisher & Paykel. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. has launched Smart Home Experiential Cloud, which connects homes, users, enterprises and ecosystem partners, and facilitates the integration of Haier's online, offline and micro-store businesses and supports user interaction to further optimize the user experience.